Wire wheel



M. LACHMAN.

WIRE WHEEL.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 8, 1918.

'mcggwl c, Patented mm 117 1922,

2 SHEETSSHEET T- a FIG Lac/M7401 IVI. LACHIVIAN.

WIRE WHEEL. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 811 918.

1,432,,191; Patented (m. 1922.,

- N N 2SHEETS T2.

i i 3 Q I 1 3 I J u j) Q K I I Y L Q I C J) I yQ 2 1 F I l Q I 3 I C ZZI l1 TTORIVEKS 16 v hooking the wire to the hub or mechanical devlce.

The object of my present invention is to v i To all whom it may 00mm.-

Patented (flat. 1?, lNZZO entrain stares MAURICE naonrren, or new roan,N. r, assren'oa, er rrnsnn .essrertrrnn'rs, a

attain rear oration. 1

BETHLEHEM STEEL COMPANY, @F BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA, A CQRIPQRA'EIQN @FPENNSYLVANIA.

warm wanna.

- Q Application filed February 8, 19918. {Serial No. 215,981.

Be it known that l, Maureen Lnonimang I a citizen of the United States,and a resident of New York, in the county of New York and State of New-York, have; invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wire.Wheels, of which the following-is a specification.

My invention relates and more particularly to wheels of the class inwhich the spokes consist of wire. In wheels of this class as usuallyconstructed the spoke lengths are fastened in the mm by nuts and at thehub ends of the spoke lengths they are secured or connected by by otherimprove and cheapen' the construction of wheels having wire spolres byso forming the same that the fastening to the rim and I hub will be apermanent welded fastening and the hub and also the ri'm will be free 1of perforations or breaks tending to weaken the construction and addingculty and cost of manufacture.

A'further object "of the invention is to ermit the spoke portion of thewheel to e made of continuous lengths of wire instead of fromindividual. radlal wire legs of sufiicient, length to embrace the radialdistance between hub and rim.

Another object of my invention is to so construct the. wheel that it maybe readily manufactured by employing the electric welding process forfastening the spokes to rim and hub.

To these ends my invention consists in I the novel features ofconstruction of wire wheel hereinafter described and shown in theaccompanyin drawings and more par? ticularly specific in the claims.

Inthe drawingsr v I Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a to of wire wheelembodying my invention. Fig. 2'is avertical cross-section throughthe'same.-

Fig. 3 shows a portion ofthe inside of the metal rim suitably preparedfor securmg the spoke lengths to the rim by electric we ding. 1 Fig. 4;is a side elevation of a modifie construction of. wire wheel embodyingmy invention.

Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate one (if the ways to metallic wheels structing awheel of the fo shown in Figs. 1 and 2. I

l indicates the metal shell or barrel of the hub of the wheel. Theinterior parts and bearings usuallyemployed are omitted from thedrawings for the awe "of simplicity as they form no part of the present1nvent1on. 2 indicates the usual form of metallic rim. 3 indicates aflange at the inner end of the hub. Said flange may be formed integralwith the barrel 1 but preferably consists of a separate piece fastenedthereto in any desired manner. Said flan e is provided, as indicated ata, with a roun ed projection formed in any desired manher as forinstance by rounding the turnedover outer edgeof said flange. said pro.

jection extends preferably as a continuous circumferential projection onthe flange and is provided either on the outer or inner facethereof asmay be desired. Said proectlon s employed to facilitate the operation ofweldmg'the wire spoke portion of the wheel by a side weld of thewirewhen the welding is done by the electric process. ll do notlimit-myself, however, to any par-- ticular manner of preparing theflange on,

the hub or providing it with for welding purposes.

The inner periphery of the rim is pro: vided with projection asindicated at 5 to facilitate the welding of the wire spokes, by

a projection 'a side welding of a loop or bend at the outer end of thespoke lengths when the union is efiected by electric welding. Thesejections 5 may be formed by indenting the rim from the outside peripheryto cause a projection uponthe inner side of the metal rim and, as willbe seen, the projections thus formed are integral throughout with therim and do not leave any perforations or breaks in the structure of themetal. I do not limit myself however, to this par= ticular manner ofpreparing the inner eriphery of the rim for electric w'elg. t ispreferable, however, to use projections 5 extending around'the wholeinner'circumference of the rim as shown since, with such formation, itbecomes unnecessary to locate the outer ends of the spokes in anyparticu. 'lar position with-respect to the circumferposes of strength toemploy a pair of projections 5 which are bridged by the loo at the outerend of the spoke ends, WhlO loop extends across and is welded to bothprojections in the form of the inventlon illustrated in Figs. 1 and 6. K

At the outer end of the hub is provided a flange 6 which may be integralwith the hub barrel 1 or may be a separate piece secured thereon. Saidflange 6 when employed-1s likewise suitably formed, by preference, w thprojections adapted to facilitate the welding of the wire spokes by aside weld between the side of-the wire and the side of the flange. Thisweldin projection may be aflorded by a circum erential pro ection 7 onsaid flange similar to the projection 4 on the flange 3 but, othermethods of form ng the flange to facilitate electrical weldlng mi ht beemployed.

ach length of wire spoke 8 is extended into a bend 9 at its outer end,the bend or elbow being preferably disposed transverse to the rim, asshown, and the union of the rim and spoke end being efl'ected throughthe welding of the outer edge of sa1d loop or bend 9 directly to theinner edge of the integral projection extending radially 1nward from theinside of the rim. Each spoke length also at the hub end thereof isextended into a loop or bend 10, the plane of said loop beingpreferably, asshown, parallel to the plane of the hub flange. Said loopsor bends 9, 10 connect contiguous spokes as shown, and in the preferredform of my invention the whole spoke portion of the wheel is formed of acontinuous length of wire made up of spoke lengths 8 and loops or bends9 and 10. As however shown in Rig. 4, the spoke portion of the wheel may'be subdivided into sections each comprisin continuous lengths of wire.At the nu ends of the spokes the loop or bend 10 preferably seats -onthe outer periphery of the hub at the outer. end thereof. Similarly theloops or bends 10 at the inner end of the hub may seat upon the outerperiphery of the barrel or hub shell 1, this seatlng being employed. ineach instance to secure greater rigidity and strength although in somecases, for instance where the wheel does not have to withstand greatcrushing effect, it may not be found necessary.

- desired way.

The whole spoke portion of the wheel may be formed up into the shapeshown in any One of the Ways in which this I may be done and which formsthe subset of claims in a co-pending application led by me February 8th1918, S. N. 215,982 is illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6. According to thismethod a suitable length of wire is taken and formed'up in zigzag mannerin one plane to produce the bends or loops 10 and spokes 8 and theskeleton thus formed is then bent up on the lines 12 to form, as

wearer indicated in Fig. 6, the bends 9. After this has'been done thewire skeleton shown m- Fig. 6 is spread out into the shape which it musttake in the finished wheel to form 9. spoke portion thereof when thewheel is constructed with a spoke portion in the shape shown in Fi s. 1and 2. I

' In the modification illustrated in Fig. 4 the wire portion of thewheel is forme in two sections or divisions 8, 8', the one portion 8being welded to the outer end of the hub while the portion 8' is weldedtothe inner end of the hub. Each section or porconnected with contiguousspokes b bends or loops formed in a plane parallel to the plane of thewheel and welded at their outer ends to projections extendin radiallyinward from the unbroken sur ace of the inside of the rim on the extremeouter edge of bends extending transversely to the rim.

2. A wire wheel comprising essentially three parts, to wit a metal rimindented to form projections on the inner surface of the rim integralthroughout with the material thereof, a hub barrel provided with aflange having a sidewise projection at each end of the barrel and acontlnuous length of bent wire bent into loops at the inner and outerends of the spoke lengths and welded by the edge of the wire to theprojections on the,

hub and to the projections on the inner surface of the rim to form acomplete wheel havin no breaks in the rim.

3. .5 wire wheel the spoke ortion of which consists of a continuous en hof wire formed with loo s or bends at t e inner and outer ends of tilespokelengths, the bends at the inner ends being parallel to the .planeof the wheel and the bends at the outer ends being transverse theretoand being welded to the inside of the metal rim. I

4. A wire wheel having a spoke portion formed of a continuous length ofwire pro- -welded at their inneren s to the hub and vided with loops orbonds connecting conof the spoke lengths being side welded to the insideof the rim.

5. A wire wheel the spoke portion of which comprises acontinuous lengthof wire bent into loops or bonds connecting spoke lengths at their outerends and Welded to projections New York' and State of New York, this 7thextending radially inward from the unday of February A. D. 1918.

broken inner surfwce of the rim and having other bends or loopsconnecting contiguous MAURICE LACHMAN' 5 spoke lengths at their innerends, said Wire Witnesses:

being welded to the hub at said inner ends. F. B. TOWNSEND,

Signed at New York, in the county of IRENE Lmnovmz.

